Sometime back my wife and I were having a conversation about who my close friends are. I only listed FIVE names. She was little shocked because she has observed my ‘close’ relationships with a number of people and thought the number might be a bit larger.

My response was I know a lot of people but not a lot of people know me.I used to think I had a lot of close friends but I started paying a bit more attention to who was there for me & who were my go to persons during tough times, spiritually,emotionally,physically & financially

I noticed how consistent these FIVE were during the good and the bad. The FIVE now form part of my inner circle. My go to persons for anything. They have my best interest at heart and would move heaven and earth for me where need be. I would do the same for them too.

Now if you are like me and you know a lot of people it’s very easy to think you have a lot of close friends but do not be deceived NOT everyone is your close friend, in fact even from your mere ‘friends’, not everyone is your friend period.

Not everyone wants you to prosper or would sacrifice their time, energy and resources for you. Therefore, it is imperative to discover who your real friends are. Just observe them in detail, scrutinize them on the grand scheme of things and even in the little things.

It will be clear where you should place them. It then becomes easy to streamline who you talk to about your success or failures, your plans and whom to seek advice from. Who you should stress over and who you should not.

not. Many of the times we get disappointed because this person and that person did not come through for us when we needed them the most. We feel let down because we shared a secret with a ‘friend’ and they told the whole world.

We were vulnerable and needed someone to circle the wagons around us and they did the exact opposite. One of the major factors is we are totally oblivious of the depth and height of most of our ‘friendships’.

With that said I am not saying shut out the whole world and only have a few people who you talk to and are friendly to. It is okay to know a lot of people to have a lot of ‘ friends’ but having an inner circle of known tried and tested confidants is important.

True, camaraderie or companionship is a very powerful and beautiful thing. Those of you with really close friends would testify that as years go by you begin to think of them as family.

They say blood is thicker than water, I say there is no blood thicker than that which started off as water ( I don’t know if that makes sense)

However, if you misconceive who your real friends are you will be forever be talking about cutting off people when you enter a new year, forever be disappointed when you hear what they say behind your back etc. learn who your real friends are and keep that circle small.

Pro 18:24, “ a man of many friends comes to ruin..”